Seismic streamer receiver selection systems and methods

Abstract

Systems and methods for determining inline skew of one or more seismic streamers are disclosed. One system embodiment includes a seismic streamer including a plurality of receivers, a skew detector adapted to detect inline skew of the streamer, and a receiver selector adapted to select which receivers in the streamer to use in data acquisition based on the detected streamer inline skew. It is emphasized that this abstract is provided to comply with the rules requiring an abstract, which will allow a searcher or other reader to quickly ascertain the subject matter of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.

1. A system comprising:
 (a) a seismic streamer including a plurality of receivers; 
 (b) a skew detector configured to detect inline skew of the streamer; and 
 (c) a receiver selector configured to select which receivers in the streamer to use in data acquisition based on the detected streamer inline skew. 
 
   
   
     2. The system of  claim 1  comprising multiple streamers. 
   
   
     3. The system of  claim 2  wherein the skew detector is included in a streamer position determination system. 
   
   
     4. The system of  claim 3  wherein the streamer position determination system comprises components selected from one or more acoustic ranging networks, components of a Global Positioning System, magnetic compasses, and combinations thereof. 
   
   
     5. The system of  claim 2  wherein the receiver selector selects which receiver in the streamer is the first receiver. 
   
   
     6. The system of  claim 2  wherein each streamer has N normal receivers and M redundant receivers. 
   
   
     7. The system of  claim 6  wherein the M redundant receivers are split between M1 receivers at the front of the streamer and M2 receivers at the tail end of the streamer. 
   
   
     8. The system of  claim 7  wherein M1 equals M2. 
   
   
     9. The system of  claim 7  wherein M1 does not equal M2. 
   
   
     10. The system of  claim 4  wherein the streamers include sufficient acoustic transmitters and receivers to perform acoustic ranging. 
   
   
     11. The system of  claim 1  wherein the skew detector includes one or more skew sensors selected from optical sensors, photoelectric sensors, acoustic sensors, and combinations thereof. 
   
   
     12. A method comprising:
 (a) towing a seismic streamer having receivers; 
 (b) sensing inline skew of at least a portion of the streamer; 
 (c) selecting the receivers to use in seismic data acquisition using the sensed inline skew; and 
 (d) acquiring seismic data with the selected receivers. 
 
   
   
     13. The method of  claim 12  comprising towing a plurality of streamers. 
   
   
     14. The method of  claim 13  wherein sensing the skew is included within a method of sensing streamer position. 
   
   
     15. The method of  claim 14  wherein the streamer positioning comprises acoustic ranging. 
   
   
     16. The method of  claim 13  wherein said selecting the receivers to use in data acquisition includes selecting a first receiver in each streamer. 
   
   
     17. The method of  claim 13  wherein said selecting the receivers to use comprises selecting a spare receiver in at least one spare streamer section to be a first receiver. 
   
   
     18. The method of  claim 16  wherein when the sensing of inline skew occurs continuously, the selecting of the receivers to use occurs continuously. 
   
   
     19. The method of  claim 12  wherein the receivers comprise N normal receivers and M redundant receivers. 
   
   
     20. The method of  claim 12 , further comprising the step of providing a skew detector configured to determine the inline skew of the streamer. 
   
   
     21. The method of  claim 20  wherein the skew detector includes one or more skew sensors selected from optical sensors, photoelectric sensors, acoustic sensors, and combinations thereof. 
   
   
     22. The method of  claim 19  wherein the M redundant receivers are split between M1 receivers at the front of the streamer and M2 receivers at the tail end of the streamer.